10 Greatest AC/DC Riffs

The Young brothers are the undisputed kings of the rock ’n’ roll riff, weaving simplicity into magic for decades with AC/DC. This was a tough one, but we narrowed down AC/DC’s catalogue to pick out their 10 Greatest Riffs.

Forgive us for staying old-school with our AC/DC picks, but we’re suckers for the Bon Scott years. Everyone knows Back in Black like a rock ’n’ roll bible (and you’ll see some of those tracks in our list) but we went all the way back to T.N.T. to include that iconic title track. We continue to represent the ‘70s with the pummeling lead for “Let There Be Rock” and one of Bon’s signature cuts, “Whole Lotta Rosie.”

There’s just nothing like “Riff Raff” when it comes to classic AC/DC. Few bands can keep such a hard rock edge while cutting deep bluesy grooves like AC/DC. “Riff Raff” is a song that truly showcases AC/DC near-unparalleled tightness as a band. Every strum, snare and cymbal hit is perfectly lined up to the millisecond, a feat few bands can match.

Of course, not every great AC/DC riff is a carefully planned series of chords. One of the band’s most gigantic and anthemic riffs can be found on “Thunderstruck.” The “Thunderstruck” riff is so damn good that Angus Young doesn’t abandon it until almost three minutes into the song… and we wouldn’t ask for anything different.

Check out our picks for the 10 Greatest AC/DC Riffs in the Loud List above.